No mercy for former Arsenal academy coach in Ozil betting scandal

At a time when sports betting integrity is such a live issue, Arsenal have shown zero tolerance to the academy coach who tweeted about his insider transfer-deadline wager.

Mark Arber, a journeyman defender whose father Bob is an Arsenal scout, boasted on social media that he was ITK (in the know) about Arsenal transfer activity and tweeted ‘Lovely bit of 14-1 Mesut’.

This indiscretion about a flutter on Mesut Ozil’s £42million move to Arsenal at the end of the August transfer window led to Arber being suspended from his academy role during investigations by both the FA and the club.

The FA have decided not to charge the 36-year-old, who is now on the books of non-League Corby Town, but sent him a letter reminding him of his responsibilities.

However, Arsenal, despite his father’s involvement with the club, decided to sever links with Arber Jnr.

A spokesman said when the tweet was first revealed by Sports Agenda: ‘All Arsenal employees are well aware of their responsibility in this respect.’

The club added on Wednesday: ‘Mark Arber is not working for us and won’t be.’

The NFL, who have three regular-season games scheduled for Wembley next year, are looking to expand their London audience.

Yet bizarrely they have blocked the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square from showing as many as eight NFL games live on Sunday nights, which has attracted hundreds of American football fans to the multi-screen venue.

No go: Leicester Square's Hippodrome Casino will not be showing NFL games on site

The broadcasts are accessed through the Game Pass facility that allows NFL supporters to choose from a number of live game feeds. But NFL lawyers insist Game Pass was set up for home viewing only.

Aussie loudmouth Ian Chappell had no repetition of his Adelaide Oval car park confrontation with arch foe Ian Botham on the last Ashes tour.

Instead, Chappell (right) ran into trouble with the law in his home town, where even having a stand at the famous old ground named after him didn’t prevent the former Aussie captain from being fined 160 dollars (£90) for jaywalking.

Chappell apparently told the policeman involved what he thought of him.

There was no England World Cup bounce at Sotheby’s sports memorabilia auction, where a Roy Hodgson shirt presented to him by Inter Milan, twinned with a Paul Ince jersey from his time at Inter, were sold for just £240.

The Milan kits were part of a large football collection sold by the son of former England goalkeeping coach Mike Kelly, who worked with Hodgson for years. The items raised around £4,000. Kelly Snr has only ever given memorabilia to his family or donated it to raise money for cancer charities.

Charlton sale off table

American billionaire Joshua Harris has pulled out of talks to buy Charlton, who are being kept afloat by Mayfair property developer Kevin Cash.

It is understood Harris, who owns basketball’s Philadelphia 76ers and ice hockey’s New Jersey Devils, and associates withdrew their interest at the due diligence stage. Charlton’s claim to own land on the Greenwich peninsular near the O2 Arena is said to be an issue.

On ice: American billionaire Joshua Harris has pulled out of a potential Charlton takeover

Meanwhile, Leeds United managing director David Haigh is leading a consortium looking to complete the purchase of around 70 per cent of the Championship club from Dubai-based owners GFH Capital ahead of the January transfer window. Haigh is also on the list of potential Tory candidates at the next election and, if the right seat became available, would hope to combine being an MP with running Leeds.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller may have hosted heads of sports in her grand Westminster offices for a match-fixing summit this week. But the DCMS say austerity times are such their annual media Christmas drinks party has been cancelled.

And it’s not as if the DCMS bash was a lavish affair, with the cheapest of wine served up along with crisps and peanuts — and an olive if you were lucky.